Randomized controlled trial (RCT; randomized comparative trials were only used if RCTs for a given modality demonstrated efficacy )

PTSD diagnosis based on DSM criteria

Published between 1980 and June 2007

Adults ages 18 and older

PTSD outcome measure included (primary or secondary measure)

English language

This review also included only primary research and no reanalyses of prior research.3

The committee was charged to “report on the highest levels of evidence available.” Although the number of studies for some treatment modalities was small, in most cases randomized controlled trials were available for review. (For clarity, it should be noted that in the psychotherapy studies, the control was not placebo, but wait list, usual care, or a type of active control.) Therefore, per part II.B of the Statement of Task, only level-I studies (RCTs) were included in the committee’s review. The committee recognizes that study designs other than RCTs can be informative for questions of effectiveness and other outcomes, but did not believe that non-RCTs would inform the core question of treatment efficacy. The committee judged

3

When there was more than one primary study based on the same data, the study with the most complete data set was used.

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